Method of forming axminster loom needles



June 24, lQ4-1 c, BRQWN 2,247,342

METHOD OF FORMING AXMINSTER LOOM NEEDLES Original Filed July 15, 1940 N 1% IO 3 WAY 11w INVEN TOR I CLYDE fibaowu ATTORNEY Patented June 24, 1941 Clyde E. Brown, Grafton, Mass, assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts 1 Original application July 15, 1940, Serial No. 345,541. Divided and this application November 29, 1940, Serial No. 367,742

4 Claims.

This is'a division of my Patent No. 2,245,067, issued June 10, 1941.

This invention relates to weft laying'needles for Axminster looms and it is the general object of the invention to provide a needle having an eye which will withstand the wearing action of the weft. r

Axm'inster looms ordinarily employ an elongated needle having an eye through which the weft is led from astationary supply. The needle is generally formed of a tube into the end of which is fitted an eye section which has been formed of a solid rod perforated to define thev eye. Axminster fabrics are customarily woven with jute filling which has a rapid wearing action on the needle eye. It is an important object of my present invention to secure a vitreous or porcelain eye into the needle by a method which does not injure the porcelain. I carry my invention into effect by providing the porcelain eye with a peripheral groove into which is placed a body of metal which can be soldered to the needle eye section. This body of metal may either be a band, ring, or coil of wire, but whatever the form of this body of metal it will have a surface to which solder or the like will adhere. The solder melts at a temperature considerably lower than that necessary to destroy the glazed surface of the porcelain and for this reason the porcelain eye is not affected by the heating operation by which it is secured to the eye section.

My invention relates also to a needle having a porcelain eye held in place on the needle by a body of metal fused to the needle and extending into a groove or the like in the eye.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein two forms of my invention are set forth,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one end of an Axminster needle made according to the preferred form of my invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the porcelain eye shown in Fig. 3 before attachment to the needle,

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modified body of metal which may be used instead of the coiled wire of the preferred form, and

Fig. 6 is an end view taken in the direction of arrow 6, Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawing, the needle N is formed of the customary tube to into which projects the shank H of a needle section 12.

The section 12 has a head l3 through which extends a bore I4 proportioned to receive a vitreous or porcelain eye IS. The latter as shown in Fig. 4; is of a generally cylindrical form but has cut into the edge thereof a peripheral circular groove Hi the effect of which is to provide the central longitudinal part or neck of the eye with a reduced diameter indicated at ll. The top and bottom l8 and 19, respectively, of the porcelain eye is wider than the neck 11, and there is extending entirely through the eye an aperture 20 for the reception of the weft thread W. The aperture 20 and the outer surfaces of the top and bottom I8 and I9, respectively, are glazed to provide a hard wear resistant surface.

In carrying my invention into effect I surround the narrow neck portion ll with a body of metal designated generally at 25. In the preferred form this metal may be a copper or steel wire wound around the neck H to a depth sufficient to establish holding frictional contact with the bore I l. The eye is then forced into the bore and solder is caused to flow into the space between the bore l4 and the top and bottom of the porcelain eye and also into contact with the coiled wire. The solder adheres to and flows around the wire to encircle the neck H with a substantially solid mass of metal which is integral with other metal held tightly to the bore l4 by the soldering operation, as indicated in Fig. 3. The solder will also lie between the bore I4 and the wider parts of the eye above and below the neck ll, as shown in Fig. 3, to resist twisting of the eye relatively to the needle.

Instead of the coiled wire, I may employ an open ring 30 as indicated in Fig. 5 as a modification. This ring can be spread to fit around the neck I! and then be closed sufiiciently to lie in the groove IE but be large enough to be held frictionally in bore M. The ring is then soldered in the bore in a manner similar to that already described.

A needle formed according to my present invention will have that part of the groove l6 not occupied by coil 25 or ring 30 filled with fusible metal which is firmly attached to the needle and for this reason the porcelain eye is held in fixed position in the section l2.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an Axminster loom needle wherein the yarn eye is formed of porcelain and is held to the needle by a mass of metal adhering to a bore in the needle and extending into portions of the eye. It will also be seen that I have provided a needle eye a portion of which is surrounded by a solderable metal and attached by a fusible metal to the walls of the bore M. It will further. be seen that I have provided a method wherein the non-metallic porcelain eye can be held in position on the needle by metal which melts at the sufliciently low temperature to avoid fracture or damage to the eye. Also, the method is facilitated by having the body of metal, either the coiled wire or ring, frictionally engage the walls of bore H to hold the eye in position during the soldering operation. While I have specifically described soldering as the means for attaching the eye to the needle I do not wish necessarily to be limited to this procedure, since any of the brazing compounds which melt at a sufiiciently low temperature can be substituted for solder.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. The method of forming an Axminster needle which consists in the following steps, forming a bore in a needle body, locating a body of metal in aperipheral groove formed in a vitreous eye element, inserting the eye with the metal in the groove into said bore, and flowing fusible metal into the bore to establish holding contact between the walls of the bore and said body of metal.

2. The method of forming an Axminster needle which consists in the following steps, forming a bore of given size in a needle element, placing a metallic body larger than said given size in the peripheral groove of a vitreous eye, forcing the eye and metallic body into the bore to establish frictional holding contact between the bore and the body of metal, and thereafter flowing a fusible metal into the bore to establish holding contact between the walls of the bore and the metallicbody.

3. The method of forming an Axminster needle which consists in the following steps, forming a bore of given size in a needle element, placing a metallic body larger than said bore in the peripheral groove of a vitreous eye which is smaller than said bore, forcing the metallic body and eye into the bore to cause the metallic body to establish holding relation with the walls of the bore, and thereafter flowing fusible metal into the bore to establish holding relationship between the metallic body and walls of the bore and also flowing the fusible metal between the bore walls and adjacent parts of the eye.

4. The method of forming an Axminster needle which consists in the following steps, forming a bore in a needle body, placing a body of metal in the peripheral groove of a vitreous eye which is smaller than the bore, placing the vitreous eye with the body of metal therearound into the bore, and flowing fusible metal into the bore to attach the body of metal to the Walls of the bore and also place the fusible metal between the walls of the bore and that part of the vitreous eye at one side of the body of metal.

CLYDE E. BROWN. 

